Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

A very good point, although keeping an open mind on both sides is important

Is alternative health a form of fundamentalism?

Amy Tuteur, MD, writes:
There once was a time when all food was organic and no pesticides were used. Health problems were treated with folk wisdom and natural remedies. There was no obesity, and people got lots of exercise. And in that time gone by, the average lifespan was … 35!

That’s right. For most of human existence, according to fossil and anthropological data, the average human lifespan was 35 years. As recently as 1900, American average lifespan was only 48. Today, advocates of alternative health bemoan the current state of American health, the increasing numbers of obese people, the lack of exercise, the use of medications, the medicalization of childbirth. Yet lifespan has never been longer, currently 77.7 in the US.

Advocates of alternative health have a romanticized and completely unrealistic notion of purported benefits of a “natural” lifestyle. Far from being a paradise, it was hell.


Thanks to David Rothman for sharing this!

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